Elegy For Himself

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Elegy For Himself is a poem by Chidiock Tichborne, proposed for Poets in Prison.

Transcript

            CHIDIOCK TICHBOURNE
                (1558?-86)

[...]

             Elegy For Himself
Written in the Tower before His Execution, 1586

My prime of youth is but a frost of cares;
  My feast of joy is but a dish of pain;
My crop of corn is but a field of tares;
  And all my good is but vain hope of gain;
The day is past, and yet I saw no sun;
And now I live, and now my life is done.

My tale was heard, and yet it was not told;
  My fruit is fall'n, and yet my leaves are green;
My youth is spent, and yet I am not old;
  I saw the world, and yet I was not seen;
My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun;
And now I live, and now my life is done.

I sought my death, and found it in my womb;
  I looked for life, and saw it was a shade;
I trod the earth, and knew it was my tomb;
  And now I die, and now I was but made;
My glass is full, and now my glass is run;
And now I live, and now my life is done.

                           [Verses of Praise and Joy, 1586]